⇢ ˗ˏˋ ✰🎨 🎸 ࿐ྂ

"𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐬?"
➶-͙˚ ༘✶ ˗ˏˋ ✰꒰ 📎 🍒 ꒱✰ ˎˊ- ➶ °*ೃ
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CERISE HARRINGTON WAS leaning over the porcelain cream-white sink, the sounds of the liquid sinew falling from the metallic shiny silver faucet. The transparent water slithers down the drain, Cerise's labored breaths filling the secluded space of the Harrington bathroom.

A ragged wheezed cough escaped Cerise's lips, her heart rate beating faster. Hunching over the sink, the youngest Harrington let out one last cough, deep from her throat. She opened her bitter shut eyes to see the thick viscous liquid in the sink and her heart dropped to the pit of her empty stomach.

Blood.

The subdued metallic crimson liquid was profusely exerting out of Cerise's body, her mahogany doe eyes scrunching in fear and disgust.

"That's not supposed to be outside of my body," Cerise muttered in a monotone, cautiously staring at the blood staining the sink. Just as she was about to feel the sudden urge of the liquid rising in her throat again, the thunderous voice of her brother crept on the other side of the wooden door. She harrowingly struggled to swallow the blood, but she succeeded without raising Steve's suspicions.

"Ressie, hurry up, you don't need makeup. You're already gorgeous," Steve assured his sister, leaning his forehead on the pinewood door, subconsciously counting the longitudinal arrangement of wood fibers of the expensive door Ms. Harrington insisted to buy.

"No Steve, today is the pep rally, unfortunately, I have to look somewhat decent," Cerise countered. The young Harrington always had struggled with her burrowing insecurities. It all started with the desire of acquiring popularity in Hawkins High School, but the day her boyfriend died, everything fell apart for the worse.

Billy Hargrove was anything but sweet, however, when it came to Cerise, he was a complete marshmallow, squashed in between a melting Hershey's bar in a s'mores sandwich. The day he died right in front of her, Cerise has not been the same ever since.

Her boyfriend's death and the antagonizing traumatic images that were permanently seared into her brain, made Cerise proceed to the comfort of using drugs. They were a temporary distraction from the real world and Cerise felt like she was in euphoria, her stress relief being lifted away. But once the short-term pleasure dissipated, Cerise went right back to hell.

One day, Cerise's mentality was severely hanging on a burning thin line, the gun she had used to kill the Demogorgon back a couple of years ago, seemed to be tempestuous to the point where Cerise wished she was with Billy.

But what seemed to be a godsend, one of the first times where Steve barged into her room without knocking, was one of the most horrifying moments of his life. There sat—a .38 revolver, laying in her innocent delicate hands, Steve instantly noticing her tear-stained cheeks and trembling body. The way she was eying it with enticement, instantly alerted Steve of the malicious ideas submerging in her head. He swiftly grabbed the gun away from her, his heart palpitating out of his chest, and without hesitance, embraced her in a heart-wrenching hug.

Cerise was forced to endure therapy and rehab which was one of the best choices her family has ever made for her. Well, a decision that Steve made. Her parents seemed to barely give a damn, considering their mother cared more about her work than her family, and their dad would rather consume a six-pack and sleep on the recliner.

She was 120 days clean, but her sobriety was likely to fall down the drain if one wrong word provoked the mental wall she has built in her head.

Even today, her brother instantly noticed the three-sixty switch in Cerise's personality, the traumatizing moments of last year, begrudgingly resurfacing in his head. The twinkle of the constellation in her irises was now a dull light and the dark cement gray discoloration underneath her eyes, was prominent without concealer.

Cerise was now in more pain than ever.

Flattening out the skirt of her cheer uniform, Cerise tightened the forest green scrunchie once more around her coffee-colored hair. She opened the bathroom door to soon be bombarded by her brother, who nearly toppled over onto the ground from the sudden shift of gravity.

"Oh hey, fancy seeing you here." Cerise walked past her brother, brushing shoulders as she ignored the dumbfounded look Steve gave her.

"You were ready this whole time?!"

"Yes."

Steve's mouth opened and closed like a hungry fish, earning a small chuckle from Cerise. "So what were you doing in there the whole time?"

Cerise stumbled in her place slightly, her faltering movements instantly covered by grabbing a piece of toast from the plate her mother left before she went to work. She fidgeted with the tarnished warped blonde necklace that was wrapped around her neck, a birthday gift received from Billy. Steve immediately noticed the way she was twisting the copper-coated chain, a nervous habit she did whenever she was lying or nervous.

"What's wrong, Cerise?" Steve asked with genuine concern, his interrogating demeanor rising from his body. Cerise didn't want to tell her brother that she has been coughing up blood, and worse, the urge for consuming substances. Due to Billy's birthday coming up, she has been feeling more compulsive now than ever.

"Nothing, I'm fine," Cerise reassured unconvincingly.

"Yeah, and I'm stupid. When you say 'you're fine,' I've learned the hard way to see that's complete bullshit. What's up with you?" Steve's suspicions were rushing by the second and Cerise began to feel smaller, knowing Steve wouldn't let this go.

When Cerise didn't respond, Steve's eyes widened, his expression plummeting and the hands that were once on his hips dropped to his side. His vision blurred with unimaginable horror, fearing that his nightmare was once coming back to haunt him.

"Cerise—a-are you...using again?" Steve's breathing became heavy, the tension evident in the air. Her eyes widened, her hands waving in front of him in absolute absurdity.

"What!? No, of course not! Why would you think that?" Cerise noticed that Steve was not looking in her eyes, no—he was looking at what seemed to be her nose.

"Well, for starters, your fucking nose is bleeding. Why else would your nose bleed if you're not snorting up that toxic shit again?" He was now fuming. Not only from anger but mostly because of his worries and the fear that his sister would be falling back to square one.

Steve cared too much about his sister for her to throw her sobriety back to the forbidden beginning. To even think of the thought of losing Cerise, made Steve want to crumble into a ball, ghost tears streaming down his cheeks.

Cerise subconsciously brought her fingers up to her nose, to see that indeed, blood was running. She grabbed a tissue from the transparent coffee table, pressing the white disposable cloth to her nose.

What is wrong with me, Cerise thought in her head. First coughing up blood, and now, a bloody nose.

"It's nothing to worry about, Steve. It's not like I've never had a bloody nose before," Cerise bolstered, but Steve thought otherwise.

"Dammit, I don't like it. I don't like it," Steve began, pacing back and forth in the living room. He wanted to trust his sister, oh, he really did, so he gave her the benefit of the doubt. "Just promise me you won't use it again."

Cerise stared at him, numerous thoughts swarming her mind. The only way to make him relax was to make him hear what he wanted to hear and Cerise knew it was the only influence to keep Steve at bay.

"I promise, Steve."

Steve seemed content with his sister's reassurance. Smiling slightly, he grabbed his car keys from the ceramic tray and was about to walk out the front door, however, he gasped suddenly, a startled Cerise jumping in her place.

"Wait, I forgot something, stay here." Steve ran back up to his room, the silence of the Harrington household filling Cerise's ears. After several seconds, Steve's stampeding footsteps receded down the stairs, him holding a small box in his hands, the silver paper wrapping securely and elegantly enveloped to every edge.

"Happy birthday, baby sis. You're officially legal," Steve beamed with excitement, handing his sister the gift. "But that doesn't mean you can do anything illegal now."

"What do you mean? I do illegal stuff with Robin all the time," Cerise joked. She saw the way Steve's face contorted with the expression of his 'mom' look and she burst out into laughter. "I'm kidding."

"You better be." Steve watched as she unwrapped the paper wrapping, revealing a crimson red velvet box. There revealed, a necklace, with a copper chain and a dangling cerise-colored hibiscus flower with a glistening crystal in the center of it. "Robin helped me pick it out."

"Steve! This is beautiful, thank you." Standing on her tip-toes, Cerise wrapped her arms around Steve's neck, his slithering to her waist, a whole-hearted chuckle escaping his lips.

"Come on, let's go pick up Robin before she bites our ears off."

✰*ੈ✩➶༄✰

"Happy birthday, my favorite Harrington!" Robin's voice boomed once she stepped inside Steve's BMW. Cerise smiled brightly and muttered a small 'thank you' before taking the present out of her hands.

"Hey, I thought I was your favorite Harrington?" Steve asked, feigning hurt.

"You're a close runner up, little Stevie," Robin joked, a laugh escaping the girls' lips.

On the road, Cerise opened up the box to reveal a red bodycon dress that seemed to reach slightly above her knee caps. Flipping over the dress, Cerise gasped in surprise at the sight of how low the V-neck line dropped.

"This dress is definitely going to be attracting all the boys and girls." Robin's eyebrows wiggled in a knowing look, making Cerise scoff lightly, attempting to hide the betraying smile that threatened to show.

"It's not like I have anything to show off. Robin, when I told you my pom-poms were big, I wasn't talking about my boobs." Before Robin could speak up, Steve groaned in an overexaggerated matter, evidently uncomfortable about the conversation.

Cerise and Robin bluntly ignored the boy and continued with their own conversation, Robin's head turned around so she could face the young Harrington in the backseat.

"Trust me, you're hot, Cherry," Robin boasted one of her best friends. Cerise's cheeks flushed with heat rising to her face at Robin's nickname for her. It was no lie that Robin found an attraction to girls, but with Cerise Harrington, she rarely admitted it, however, she had a crush on Robin back in sophomore year. Yet Robin didn't have eyes on her; they were on Tammy Thompson.

Today, Cerise was grateful that she had Robin as a friend and she wouldn't have it any other way. She decided to keep her sexuality a secret, the only person in existence knowing was Steve, but unfortunately, his big mouth accidentally blabbered to Robin that Cerise was bisexual. Cerise didn't mind that Steve told Robin, but it did earn him a good slap in the back of his head.

To say Robin was surprised was an understatement. She felt terrible for not noticing a beautiful girl like Cerise, but just as Robin was developing feelings for her, Cerise's were disappearing, her soon dating Billy Hargrove.

Cerise was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Steve mention 'boobies,' her face scrunching up in confusion, seeing that her brother and Robin were in a now intense banter.

"She returned Fast Times paused at 53 minutes, 5 seconds. Do you know who pauses Fast Times at 53 minutes, 5 seconds? People who like boobies, Robin."

"Did you really say 'boobies,' Steve?" Cerise couldn't help but laugh at the conversation between some of the most important people in her life.

"Ressie, tell Robin that Vickie is totally a person who likes boobies," Steve implored for her opinion.

"If you stop saying 'boobies' then sure." She noticed that Steve shut up and smiled in victory, then turned around to look at Robin. "Vickie from band? She definitely has a thing for you."

"Right!? It's not a big deal, Robin. I like boobies, you like boobies, and even Cerise likes boobies too. Vickie likes boobies. Definitely."

Cerise and Robin both shook their heads incredulously, but luckily before Steve could irritate them any further, Hawkins High School came into view, both of the girls writhingly getting out of the car.

The rest of the cheer squad came into view ushering Cerise to hang out with them. Cerise put her finger up in the air, indicating for them to wait.

"You're not going to hang out with the rest of the pom-pom squad?" Robin asked, holding her band gear against the side of her body.

"Nah, they can wait. Come on, let's get breakfast together first."

That's one thing Robin loved about Cerise. She didn't care about her social status, at least not as much until Billy died, though Robin was grateful that she was still able to hang out with one of her best friends not only outside of school but also during school.

Everything was going according to plan. Prepare for the pep rally, visit Steve and Robin's work after school, then go back for the game at night.

However, little did Cerise know, her eighteenth birthday was about to plummet downhill drastically, that wall she built in her head, soon to be collapsing down into nothing but ashes.

AHHH HERE'S THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THIS BOOK! I hope you all enjoyed it!

Why do you guys think Cerise is coughing up blood?

Also thank you all so so much for 600 reads and 100 votes within a day. I'm so excited to share more of this story with you.

Eddie will be coming up in the next chapter so stay tuned for our favorite metalhead hehe <3